Conveyor construction for railway ballast conditioning apparatus



April 2, 1957 w R. WALTERS 2,787,389-

CONVEIYOR CbNSTRUCTION FOR RAILWAY,

BALLAST CONDITIONING APPARATUS Filed May 1, 1953 I 3 Sheets-Sheet l 1 I a I flue/#01 l 1 MVM M 57 April 2, 1957 w. R. WALTERS 2,787,339

CONVEYOR CONSTRUCTION FOR RAlL-WAY- BALLAST CONDITIONING APPARATUS 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed May 1, 1953 April 2, 1957 w. R. WALTERS 2,787,389

CONVEYOR CONSTRUCTION FOR RAILWAY. BALLAST commomuc APPARATUS Filed May 1, 1953 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 fit United States Patent lice Patented Apr. 2,. i957 2,787,389 CONVEYOR C NS RUCTION QR R LW BALLAST CONDITIONING APPARATUS William R. Walters, Cos Cob, Conn. Application May 1, 1953, Serial No. 352,506

3 Claims. (Cl. 214=-=-8 3.26)

This invention relates to improvements in conveyor construction for railway ballast conditioning apparatus and it consists of the matters hereinafter described and more particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

The improved construction is especially adapted for use in connection with railway ballast conditioning apparatus including a car which picks up fouled ballast as it moves along a track, cleans the ballast by removing the fouling material therefrom, returning the clean ballast tothe road bed, and disposing of the removed fouling material. By reason of t'rackside conditions, it is sometimes practicable and desirable to discharge the removed fouling material at one side or the other of the right of way as the ballast conditioning apparatus progresses alon the track. At other times it is impracticable or undesirable to so dispose of such removed material. Thus, the removed material must be stored and carried'alo'ng' with the work car until a place is reached where it is desired and practicable to so dispose of such material. In large ballast conditioning apparatus a so-called dirt car is coupled behind the ballast conditioning or Work car and into which the fouling material usually called dirt is discharged so that it may be stored in and carried along by said car.

Ballast in main line track usually comprises crushed rock as distinguished from gravel and the term dirt as used herein means cinders, soil, stone chips too small for ballast reuse and other foreignmatter which accumulates in and on the ballast, fill the voids therein and prevents or greatly retards water drainage therethro'ugh, thereby afiecting the safety of the road bed, particularly for high speed train movements and also causing other undesirable results.

One of the objects of the present invention is to provide a conveyor construction for the work car of a ballast conditioning apparatus and by which the fouling material or dirt removed from the ballast by the work car may be discharged from the work car along either side of the right of way or into the front end of a dirt storage car coupled to and following the work car for storage and for carrying along with the work car until a suitable or desired place of disposal is reached.

Another object of the invention is to provide a construction of this kind which includes conveyors which may be readily swung from a position parallel with the work car and raised at the outer end to discharge into the dirt car or be swung to extend at various angles outwardly of the side of the work car so as to discharge the dirt at various selected distances outwardly of said work car.

Also it is an object of the invention to provide a conveyor construction which may be readily controlled as to its position for discharge by means of an operator positioned upon a platform at the rear of the work car.

Furthermore it is an object of the invention to provide a construction of this kind in which it isv prac= ticable to employ cable and 1power'-cylinders and pistons for raising and lowering the conveyors into different positions vertically as well as for swinging the same herbv zontall' and whereby dirt may be discharged either into the 'dirt' car or along the right of way as the conditions, of the latter may warrant.

The above mentioned objects of the invention as well as others along with the advantages thereof will more fully appear as the specification proceeds.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a conveyor construction embodying one form of the invention when em ployed between the work car of a railway ballast condi-. tioning apparatus and a dirt receiving car coupled behind said work car.

Fig. 2' is a top plan view of the rear end of the work. car of the apparatus provided with the improvedconveyor construction and more particularly showing themechanism on the car for raising and lowering the conveyors and for swinging the same laterally outward from either side of the work car.

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal vertical sectional view through.

the mounting of the conveyors upon a fixed part of the.

rear end of the work car wherein the mounting affords vertical and horizontal swinging movements of the conveyor under the action of suitable operating mechanism therefor, the plane of the section being taken on the line 3'-3' of Fig. 2 and is on a scale enlarged thereover.

Fig. 4 is a detail perspective view of one of a plurality of power cylinders, sheaves and cable arrangements employed in the improved construction which will be more fully mentioned later.

Fig. 5 is a view substantially on the line 55 of Fig. 3, viewed in the direction of the arrow, including certain parts for supporting the conveyors which do not appear in Fig. 3, certain of the parts being broken away better to disclose details of construction, and

Fig. 6 is a detail view in elevation substantially on the line 6-6 of Fig. 5 viewed in the direction of the arrow.

Referring now in detail to that embodiment of the invention illustrated in the drawings, in Fig. 1 is shown the rear end of the work car 10 of a ballast conditioning apparatus and the front end of the dirt car 11 of the apparatus which has a coupled connection therewith as at 12. It is to be understood that each car includes wheeled trucks 13 for travel upon the rails 14 of a railway track, only one of the front trucks for the dirt car appearing in Fig. 1.

At the rear end of the work car 10 is an operators platform 14 with a control column 15 thereon and by which the various power cylinders, later mentioned, are controlled by means of the control levers CL. The platform 14 forms the floor for the operators cab 16 and which includes a suitable top 17 which forms the roof for the cab. Below the operators platform 14 is a second and open platform 18, which forms a support for a multiple conveyor arrangement as will later appear.

The dirt car 11 which is generally in the nature of a gondola type of car includes an open top body 20, the front end 21 of which is spaced rearwardly of the front of the car to there provide a compartment upon which is located a suitable winch and winch driving unit indicated as a whole by the numeral 22 and by which certain mechanism in the dirt cart not forming a part of this invention, may be actuated.

At the rear end of the work car 10 is a pair of right and left hand conveyors 25 and 26 respectively of the endless belt type, each of which has a relatively long frame that include a pair of laterally spaced channels 27.

The normally lower front ends of the channels of each conveyor are journalled upon a cross shaft 28, eachsh'aft being arrangedi'n a pair of spaced upright arms 29 of a saddle 30, only the shaft for one of the conveyors and a part of one saddle appearing in Fig. 3, other parts being better shown in Fig. 5. The other end of each conveyor is free to be swung upwardly or downwardly about its own cross shaft 28 as an axis into different angles vertically. Each saddle is operatively mounted on: a stationary' crosschannel 31, rigidly secured to the framing of the car of which the member-18 is a part by means of a vertical pivot pin 32 and about which the saddle and the associated conveyor frame may swing in a. horizontal lane.

p Each of the frames 25 and 26 has journal'led therein front and rear end transverse shafts 35 and 36 respectively and each carries rollers 37 and 38 respectively, an endless conveyor belt 39 being trained about said rollers. Between said rollers, other and smaller rollers 4041 are journalled in the channels of each conveyor frame to afford support for longitudinally spaced points of both the upper and the lower laps of the endless belt carried by the frame. In Fig. .1, the belt for the conveyor 25 has been omitted better to show the construction of its frame and the parts mounted thereon.

The channels of each frame support along their top flange-like edges, a plurality of longitudinally spaced front and rear end chairs 42, 43, 44 and 45 respectively which best appear in Fig. 1. Each chair 45 supports at one side thereof an electric motor 46, the armature shaft 47 of which has a sprocket pinion 48 thereon, which through a sprocket chain 49 drives a sprocket 50 on the shaft 36 on the same frame.

The chairs 42--43 support a power cylinder 51 arranged longitudinally along and in the median line of the associated frame and each cylinder has a piston (not shown) to which is operatively connected a piston rod 52 that slides through the rear end of said cylinder. This piston rod carries a sheave 53 at its rear end and about which a part of a cable 54 is trained, after being fixed to a sheave holder 53a on the end of said rod.

A dual sheave 55 is supported by each chair 44, the cable passing from said holder being trained about a part of the sheave 55, then back toward and around the sheave 53 and then about the other part of sheave 55 to extend upwardly and forwardly therefrom toward the rear end of the cab roof 17 to there be attached to a turnbuckle 56. The rigging of the cable about said sheaves best ap pears in Fig. 4. This turnbuckle is connected to a laterally swingable actuator 57 above the cab roof and which will be mentioned in more detail later. It is pointed out at this time that the tops of the chairs 42, 43, 44 and 45 are disposed in substantially the same plane and this plane is high enough above the upper lap of the belt 39 so as to permit the free passage of the material thereon beneath said chairs.

The front ends of the channels 27 of each conveyor support a hopper 60 (see Figs. 3 and which includes sides 61 and a front 62, the hopper being open at the top or rear. The hopper on the left hand conveyor of Fig. 5 has been omitted and certain of the parts of the conveyor have been broken away better to disclose some of the underlying parts. This hopper is disposed above the roller 37 so as to direct material discharged thereinto upon the front end of the top lap of the conveyor belt 39.

The work car includes a pair of downwardly and rearwardly extending conveyors 65 of the endless belt type which receives the dirt separated from the ballast by means (not shown) in the work car. The lower rear ends of said conveyors (see Figs. 3 and 5) are so disposed as to discharge streams of dirt 66 therefrom into the hoppers 60, the open top end of the hopper being of such area as to receive this stream in any position in which either conveyor 25-26 may be disposed. It will be understood there is a separate hopper for each conveyor and that since the hopper is secured to the framing of the conveyor it moves therewith.

It is obvious that through the power cylinder and rod 4 arrangement shown in Fig. 4 either conveyor 25-26 may be swung into dilferent vertical angular positions.

Each arm 57 before mentioned and best appearing in Fig. 2 is pivoted at one end as at 67 to a suitable cross bar 68 forming a part of a framing on the upper part of the cab roof 17. Associated with each arm 57 is an actuating means whereby the arm may be swung about the axis of the pivotal connection 67. As best shown in Fig. 2, this axis is disposed in the longitudinal median plane of the associated conveyor 25 or 26, as the case may be when the same is disposed in the full line position appearing in Fig. 2. The means for imparting a lateral swinging movement to either of the arms 57 consists of a power cylinder 69, the front end of which is pivoted to the framing as at 70 so as to swing about a vertical axis. In this cylinder is a piston (not shown) that has connected thereto the forward end of a piston rod 71 that slides through the rear end of the cylinder and carries a clevis 72 at its rear end. This clevis is pivoted at 73 to a side portion of an associated bar.

When a piston rod 71 is extended from its cylinder, it swings the associated arm 57 into a position parallel the center lines of both cars so that its associated conveyor is disposed longitudinally of the car as appears at the near side of Fig. 2. When the piston rod 71 has been retracted into its cylinder it swings its associated arm 57 into the angular position shown in the far side of Fig. 2 and through the cable arrangement swings its associated conveyor into the angular position shown in full lines in the far side of Fig. 2.

From the above description it will be understood either of the conveyors 2526 may be selectively swung into different vertical angular positions and also into different horizontal angular positions.

With the conveyors mounted and actuated as described both thereof may be swung so that they are parallel to each other, as shown in Fig. 1, thereby, when operated, discharging into the dirt car 11. Also the position shown in Fig. 1 is that which the conveyors occupy when the equipment is moving in non-operative condition along the tracks.

Again the conveyor on the far side of the car may be swung outwardly and upwardly so as, when the belt is in motion, to discharge the material from its outer end at the desired spaced distance or position from that side of the car. Likewise the conveyor on the near side of the car may be operated in like manner with respect to its side of the car.

The pistons in the various cylinders 51-51 and 6969 are preferably hydraulically actuated, the hydraulic fluid being conveyed thereto by suitable conduits which it has not been thought necessary to illustrate, since such means will be understood by persons skilled in the art. The operator controls separately or selectively the functioning of the various hydraulic devices and also the electric motors 4646 from the platform 14 through the group of control levers CL.

When the conveyors are in the position shown in Fig. 1 the inner members 27-27 of the conveyors rest upon a supporting plate carried by the standard 101 which is rigidly secured to and upstands from the center beam 18 of the car frame (see Figs. 5 and 6).

I claim as my invention:

1. In combination with a railway car embodying therein a framing, members mounted on said framing, one on each side of the longitudinal median line of the car for turning movement about a vertical axis, a plurality of conveyors, means mounting one end of each conveyor on an associated member for a swinging movement about a horizontal axis, power operated means, one for each conveyor and each including a lever arm pivotally mounted at one end on said part of the framing for swinging movement about a second vertical axis, means connecting the other end of each lever arm to its associated conveyor for imparting swinging movement thereto about said vertical axis in the swinging movement of said lever member, a part of each connecting means being operative to swing the associated elevator about its own horizontal axis.

2. In combination with a railway car embodying therein a framing and a car body thereon, said body including an operators cab at said end of the framing and which cab includes a roof structure and an operating platform spaced above part of the framing, members mounted on said platform, one on each side of the longitudinal median line of the car for turning movement about a vertical axis, a plurality of conveyors, each including a frame and an endless belt trained over rollers carried by said frame, means mounting one end of each frame on an associated member for swinging movement about a horizontal axis, a plurality of power operated means mounted on said cab roof structure, one on each side of said median line of the car, each power operated means including a lever pivoted to a part of the roof for swinging movement about a second vertical axis, means connecting the other end of each lever to the frame of an associated conveyor for imparting swinging movement thereto about its associated vertical axis in the swinging movement of said levers, a part of each connecting means being operative to swing the associated elevator about its own horizontal axis.

3. In combination with a railway car embodying therein a framing and a car body thereon, means mounted on said car framing for a turning movement about a vertical axis, material conveying means including elongated framing having inner and outer ends, means mounting the inner end of said elongated framing on said first mentioned means for swinging movement about an horizontal axis, means for swinging said elongated framing vertically about said horizontal axis and laterally about said vertical axis, said means including a fluid power cylinder secured to said conveyor framing adjacent the inner end thereof having a piston therein and a piston rod connected to the piston and extending outwardly of said cylinder, a sheave secured to the outer end of the piston rod, a dual sheave mounted on said conveyor framing at a point outwardly of said first mentioned sheave, a lever arm having one end mounted on the car framing for swinging movement upon a vertical axis, a power cylinder pivotally mounted at one end to the car framing for swinging movement on a vertical axis, said power cylinder having a piston and piston rod, the outer end of the latter being pivotally connected to said arm, to cause swinging movement of said arm in one direction or the other in response to the direction of movement of said piston and piston rod, a cable having one end secured to be movable with the piston rod of the piston associated with the power cylinder on the conveyor framing, being trained about said dual sheave, back toward and around the sheave carried by the piston rod, thence about the other part of the dual sheave and toward the free end of said pivoted arm and to which the other end of the cable is secured.

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